Sun Tzu, the pioneer of Chinese military thought and author of the famed treatise ‘The Art of War’, has influenced China’s strategy. With the objective of weakening the enemy, Sun Tzu propagated several measures to ensure the outcome of any conflict would be predetermined. “Ultimate excellence lies, not in winning every battle, but in defeating the enemy without ever fighting. […]

The United States spent millions of dollars on Afghanistan over 20 years, with a prop up a government that would build a nation-state. With the Taliban attacks and the destruction of the state-building process, the US and its allies could no longer bear the brunt to remain engaged in Afghanistan. This led to negotiations with the Taliban. As soon as […]

Germany has pledged to admit 25,000 Afghans deemed most at risk following the Islamic Emirate if Afghanistan (IEA) takeover in Kabul from about 40,000 such people that European Union states are to accept, according to a letter by a senior EU official. Germany had a record number of almost 900,000 people seeking refuge on its soil in 2015, most of […]

Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan more than three and a half months ago amid a chaotic withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops, their fighters have changed roles, from insurgents fighting in the mountains and fields to an armed force running the country. Many Taliban foot soldiers now have new jobs: manning checkpoints on the streets and carrying out security […]

With the Taliban governing in Kabul it is likely that the central command of al-Qaeda as a global Jihadist structure will find Afghanistan and Pakistan a much more permissive space for planning new attacks in the western world, something that in the short and medium term will have a greater impact on European societies. Since the mid-1990s the Afghan Taliban […]

Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban on Sunday rejected Western allegations they were carrying out targeted killings of security officials linked to the ousted U.S.-backed government in Kabul, saying the Islamist group was fully committed to enforcing a general amnesty across the country. “Any (Taliban) member found breaching amnesty decree will be prosecuted and penalized,” tweeted Abdul Qahar Balkhi, the Taliban Foreign Ministry […]

A decades-long fight over land has been reinvigorated as Taliban leaders look to reward their fighters with property, even if that means evicting others. For decades, roughly a thousand families called the low-slung mud-walled neighborhood of Firqa home. Some moved in during the 1990s civil war, while others were provided housing under the previous government. Soon after the Taliban takeover […]

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Russian President Vladimir Putin in New Delhi on Monday, with trade and the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan both on the agenda. “The fight against terrorism is also a fight against drug trafficking and organised crime,” Putin said in introductory remarks broadcast by Indian media. “In that regard, we are concerned about developments of the […]

A spokesman for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s (IEA) foreign ministry has denied Western allegations that IEA forces have killed members of the former Afghan government’s security forces. Abdul Qahar Balkhi’s remarks came a day after the United States and a number of Western nations condemned reports of the alleged deaths of former Afghan security forces and called for an […]

Russia said on Monday it was reinforcing its military base in Tajikistan with 30 new tanks and that its forces at the facility had carried out exercises with missile defense systems, Reuters reported. The possibility of Islamist militants in Afghanistan infiltrating Tajikistan and other former Soviet republics in Central Asia is a worry for Moscow, which views the region as […]